A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
183. Coot. Fulica atra, Linn. 
Locally, Lake-Hen (0ds.). 
A common resident upon most of our 
ponds, and often present on our larger lakes 
to the number of a few hundred birds. Many 
of the young appear to fall victims to voracious 
pike. I have known odd birds to be killed 
on the salt marshes after a spell of boisterous 
weather. 
184. Crane. Grus communis, Bechstein. 
In the spring of 1869 a solitary crane ap- 
peared in the neighbourhood of Allonby. It 
was eagerly pursued by several local gunners. 
Messrs. Mann, who then resided at Crock- 
hurst, stalked the bird in one of their fields 
and fired two shots at it, knocking out some 
feathers, which were sent to Mr. J. J. Armis- 
tead. 
185. Great Bustard. Otis tarda, Linn. 
A female was shot in a turnip field at Lees- 
hill in the parish of Lanercost on March 8th, 
1854. It was stuffed for a local innkeeper, 
Joseph Mowbray of Brampton. The late 
John Hancock saw the specimen a few days 
after it was stuffed, and while it was quite 
soft and flexible; it had weighed 11 Ib. It 
was eventually placed in the Newcastle 
Museum. 
186. Pratincole. Glareola pratincola, Linn. 
A specimen of this rare visitant was killed 
near Bowness-on-Solway in the year 1807. 
It has never been met with in the county 
during the last ninety-three years, so that the 
original record remains unique. 
187. Cream - coloured Courser. Cursorius 
gallicus (Gmelin). 
A stray specimen appeared at Allonby in 
October, 1862. It was shot by Robert 
Costin, a native of that village, who killed it 
on the top of the beach immediately in front 
of the bank known locally as ‘The Hill.’ 
Costin sold the bird to the late Mr. T. H. 
Allis of York. 
188. Dotterel. Eudromias morinellus (Linn.). 
The hills of the Lake district have long 
been celebrated as a summer haunt of this 
dainty plover. There was a time, undoubtedly, 
when many of these birds rested for a few 
days upon the slopes of our higher mountains, 
as well as upon certain marshes abutting on 
the Solway Firth, during their vernal migra- 
tion. The month of May has always been 
the season at which the dotterel appeared, 
though it has occurred in exceptional instances 
in April, and even as early as the third week 
in March. Formerly the miners on Crossfell, 
and in the neighbourhood of Keswick, were 
in the habit of ruthlessly shooting these birds 
on their arrival, which was eagerly looked for 
because the skins fetched about half a crown 
apiece for fly-dressing. Such destructive mea- 
sures have been limited by legal protection; yet 
the dotterel is much less frequently seen in 
the county than was the case thirty or forty 
years ago. A herd named Percival, who 
lived at Rockliffe, at one time was known as 
the ‘ dotterel,’ because he had killed so many 
of these birds. Now they are seen only once 
in five or six years, where formerly their 
arrival could safely be predicted as certain to 
occur within a few days. Whether this may 
be accounted for by the birds being more 
freely persecuted on their way to us than 
formerly is a question upon which I cannot 
pronounce an opinion. But I do not agree 
with those who argue that the dotterel ever 
bred numerously in our faunal area. 
The evidence at my disposal, which I can- 
not in the interest of this species record in 
print, satisfies me, as it would probably satisfy 
any one who has a good knowledge of the 
wildest parts of our mountain ranges, that no 
large percentage of the dotterel that visited 
our hills ever actually bred with us. That a 
limited number of birds have always done so, 
particularly in the Lake district proper, is 
equally certain, for many clutches of eggs have 
been taken since Dr. Heysham saw three eggs 
that had been procured upon Skiddaw in the 
summer of 1784, one of the parent birds 
being killed at the same time. The unob- 
trusive habits of the dotterel, when incubation 
has commenced, often permit a person to pass 
close to its nest without any suspicion of its 
nearness being aroused. On the other hand, 
the assiduity with which the most favoured 
breeding quarters are ransacked by egg-col- 
lectors render it difficult for the species to 
increase or even to hold its own. But the 
young are very rarely shot; indeed, the 
dotterel is never molested except in spring and 
summer. The birds that visit us in May 
must journey to their winter quarters by some 
other route; at least ] have never seen any 
immature specimen killed in the county, ex- 
cept two birds from Crossfell preserved in the 
Newcastle Museum. I have observed the 
dotterel myself on some few occasions, both 
on our marshes and on the hills, but only in 
spring and summer. 
189. Ringed Plover. Zgialitis hiaticula(Linn.) 
Locally, Sea Bellet, Pellick, Ringed Dotterel. 
A common resident upon our sea coast, 
nesting in very sparing numbers upon gravel 
beds in our larger rivers, such as the Esk and 
206 
